SBA Loans: Following the Money

The Small Business Administration's efforts to make smaller loans available to more people seem to have produced mixed results for women and minorities. On the one hand, they have had more loans approved each year since 2002 -- but because the loans have been smaller, the percentage of total SBA-backed loan dollars approved for women and minorities has not grown nearly as quickly (except for Asian applicants). Both loans and loan dollars to rural borrowers, on the other hand, have substantially increased. The only group to show a markedly decreasing share of SBA loans is veterans, as the tables below illustrate.